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Cricket Ireland have appointed Craig Hogan as their new National Academy Manager and he will start work at the end of September.

The move to appointt he 53-year-old is part of Cricket Ireland's continuing push to put structures in place to enable them to make a bid to become an International Cricket Council (ICC) Full Member in the future.

Hogan will work alongside former Ireland international Ryan Eagleson, who will continue in his current role as Under-19s coach but also take on a role as National Academy Performance Coach.

The National Academy aims to identify and nurture the most talented players - male and female - in the country and provide them with world-class player development programmes with the goal of international success in mind.

Hogan, who was a vice-captain at Australia Under-19s level, has been working with Jersey as their national coach and High Performance Manager, leading them to the ICC World Cricket League Division Six title.

"I am very honoured to be given the opportunity to be involved with Cricket Ireland in such an exciting phase of its development," Hogan said.

"The success of Ireland’s Men’s and Women’s senior teams over the past five seasons in particular and the genuine possibility of becoming an ICC full member and Test-playing country by 2020 is very motivating. Cricket Ireland is such an innovative, progressive organisation and the National Academy is a really positive step forward to securing the long-term future for home-grown cricketers.

"The Academy fits neatly into an excellent player pathway that will allow youngsters to see they can become professional cricketers and progress to the very highest level from within Ireland.

"I am really looking forward to being part of a team together with other passionate managers, coaches, educational leaders and support staff to work with the next generation of players with the ability, desire, attitude and athleticism to be the best they can be. It is very exciting.

"I am also looking forward to working with the provincial unions, their clubs, schools and coaches towards identifying and developing the best young cricketers and coaches.

"I can’t wait to get started and am already really looking forward to the day when the first National Academy player makes their debut for the full Ireland side."

Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth added: "Craig has a proven track record and success in developing both people and talented players, and along with his experience as a physical education teacher we believe will help us identify and develop the best young players in Ireland.

"Part of our continual succession planning is to identify players who could compete in the 2019 World Cup and beyond, and part of the academy's role is to develop those players to be successful on the world stage.

"It is important that Cricket Ireland provides local access to specialist coaching, sports science and medicine support and facility resources to these young players, so that they will no longer feel the need to gain these at English counties."

Holdsworth also revealed that Ireland is looking to give their brightest talents overseas' experience to aid their development.

"The academy will involve sending players to overseas environments to learn more about the global game in unfamiliar conditions and where Ireland is most likely to play major events in the future. Craig will work well with national academy performance coach Ryan Eagleson who has been Ireland's Under 19 lead coach since 2011 and has a great deal of experience and knowledge."